fakeplastictrees

Maybe this all has a payoff. Maybe this is Impact acting kind and gracious until one day they decide TK and AEW need to get fucked and reminded that AEW is one of the new players, but Impact is not to be messed with. This would include an Impact 'invasion' of sorts, think along the lines of the Nexus debut, and perhaps the Good Brothers defecting to AEW while Impact talent involved get a little more serious about the AEW association. There are tons of matches to have and lots of characters that would be completely fun to see interact. But the "Oh Geez Golly Shucks" shit has got to go. I feel I am beating a dead horse at this point, but there has to be a method to the madness.

The CMLL and ROH relationship is officially done. IIRC, they have been in business with each other for well over 10 years. If ROH decides to work with another lucha promotion, I hope to see some RIOT some guys in the future.

Scott D'Amore has come off really bad in all of this. Callis is in business for himself, Khan is the billionaire doing whatever he wants, and Scott D'Amore is just happy to be there and is so honored that AEW is working with Impact. The Swann and Omega press conference is a good example of the D'Amore AEW bootlicking. It's fine to put over another company and its wrestler, but whatever D'Amore and team think they are doing, they are not and they need to stop. I mentioned this in another thread, but the same company that has the LOLTNA history attached to it also has the X Division, the buildup to Steiner vs. Joe, Hogan saving Sting, Paparazzi Productions, James Storm vs. Chris Harris in a Texas Death match, Monty Brown being Monty Brown, Elix Skipper's cage walk, Styles vs. Abyss from Lockdown 2005, etc. Yes, this company has made tons of mistakes and deserves all the shit they have received over the years, but the men representing this company need to get it together and focus on the good stuff. From Impact's perspective, AEW should want to work with Impact. Impact has been around longer, they were once part of the NWA, three legends (Flair, Hogan, Foley) all had their last matches there, Impact has more episodes that Nitro, Thunder, and ECW TV. @strobogo is right. This can't be that hard. I don't like where any of this is going and I hope I am proven wrong.

Scott Keith is why we need more prominent POC in these positions. Identity isn't the end-all-be-all and it will not guarantee anything, but a less out-of-touch perspective is needed. I haven't read all of his stuff, but the bits and pieces I have read (and following this thread), this guys seems as if he is trying to be the polite edgelord that conveniently learns a lesson only when his feet are held to the fire. I am not a fan.

Alex's work and gimmick are complete shit. However, credit where credit is due. She is all in. She was given chicken shit and is doing her best to make chicken salad. I hate everything she does on screen, but at the same time I am rooting for her as well over 90% of the women would completely tank this gimmick if given the chance to run with it. Bliss also seems like a completely harmless person, based on her social media presence, so I hope she does well. With all that said, final thoughts on the gimmick as a whole? WOOF!

The Twitter reaction to Green has been, quite frankly, embarrassing. I've dealt with social media mobs in the past and there is no winning with them. Once the torches are lit, that's it. Green could have and should have handled that situation better. She is not the first and won't be the last. Artists get screwed over all the time and so even something as a simple credit means a lot because sometimes that is all they will get for their work. With that said, seeing torches lit for this situation is not entirely surprising. Calls for her to lose bookings, negative comments on her looks, and taking joy in her being fired seems a little excessive. Well, not a little excessive, it is excessive. There is an honest conversation to be had as it relates to sharing or stealing art. However, it seems as though many don't want to have that conversation and instead have, for lack of a better term in this case, Chelsea 'canceled'. I am not a fan of hers and have never been a fan of hers. If I never see another Chelsea Green match in my life, I will be just fine. I don't think anyone should cut her any slack in this situation, but perhaps no death threats? Just my two cents. Maybe death threats are a completely reasonable reaction to this and I am the one out of touch? As for the fan, he should have handled it better as well. If I'm a wrestler and I'm looking to commission art for a future project, why would I want to work with someone who I know will potentially screenshot and post our interactions if the artist doesn't get his/her way? I understand everyone wants to make money and get recognization, but the business side should be kept in mind. Send Chelsea a message, allow her a reasonable amount of time to respond and if she doesn't, you move on. Instead of posting 'the tea' on social media, just send out a tweet "Hey everyone! I made a graphic for one of my favorite wrestlers Chelsea Green. It's my honor to see she is using it. Be sure to check out her new podcast and reach out to book her! Also, if you like this piece and want to see more or want to collaborate, check out www.myart.com". That's it. That is literally it. The artist can his tea and cake at the same time. Shelton Benjamin will be seen as a standout Ruthless Aggression era wrestler, and yes, as a pre-cursor in a way to Kofi Kingston's amazing abilities. I am sure in the video package Kofi will point to Benjamin as an inspiration and mentor much like Kobe and Lebron have done with Jordan. WWE has a way with setting narratives and I believe the WGTT run, the MITB innovation, general athleticism in other matches, and of course the multiple title wins will make him a no brainer. In addition to Kofi, I am sure Angle, Lashley, and Lesnar won't mind saying a few things about Shelton when it comes time to induct him. Shelton will be fine. There is no way he doesn't become a future PC trainer or work with WWE in some capacity.

The Slammiversary teaser shows: Naito, Okada, Chelsea Green, Mickie James, Samoa Joe, Muta, and the flags of Mexico (Kalisto?) and Australia (IIconics?). Should be a banger of a show. I wish Impact would go a different route when it comes to advertising and marketing. The "We are still here" approach to things just comes off as depressing and needy. Stop telling me you are "Hard to kill". Just be awesome. Stop working against the talent with these bullshit tag lines. I don't know why Impact just can't stop being self-loathing, I hope Slammiversary is in front of a crowd. Swann and Omega was good, as expected, but I am still down on the way AEW and Impact handled the build to this match. It started out with Swann getting punked by a security guard while Josh Matthews walks up the Omega's bus with all the confidence of a teenage boy asking the popular girl at school to go to the prom with him. This was of course followed by constant "paid advertisements" by Tony Khan where he buries Impact, no meaningful Impact crossover on AEW television relating specifically to Swann, and of course the press conference where D'Amore comes off like a complete mark that is just happy to be working with AEW. Impact has a lot of LOLTNA moments in its history, but there is also tons of gold. It's just bad presentation. Mix this in with the "we are still here and you have to deal with it" ads and its just a company that oozes low self esteem.

Also, TK, if you need a new laptop, please let me know. I got you.

To add to Sek69, Gail Kim, Maria, and IIRC Jillian Hall all came out saying the same thing on social media. Seemingly because of this, and the timing indicates such, Mark Carrano is out of WWE.

All the best. Stay strong. Sending love my man.

Ice Train was awesome. WCW had amazing jobbers. Ice Train, Pittman, High Voltage, etc. were awesome. Powerhouse Hobbs reminds me of Ice Train. That pretty much made me an instant fan. I hope Train does something fun and impressive in 2021. In other news, Alex Wright is in great shape. I want all WCW 90's jobbers and midcarders are surprise 2022 Rumble entrants.

Alexa Bliss probably has some of the best character out of all the women that have come out of the PC. However, she is a completely unremarkable wrestlers once the belt rings and we get into the actual mechanics of the match. I am not sure if her positives are due to her being really good and outshining everyone or her being just slightly better than the other wrestlers that are focused more on in ring work than getting over.

I use to like Aries and thought he was just a misunderstood at times. His social media posts tell me I was completely wrong. Pro wrestlers really don't understand how to use social media and they have allowed it to impact, what is suppose to be, their business. Imagine losing a booking because you just felt the need to rant about the COVID Hoax" only for a promoter to cancel your booking because that promoter had a family member, friend, or co-worker die because of COVID. Others that are really bad at social media: -Low Ki -Alberto "She Has Coke in Her Purse" Del Rio -Ivelisse "I Don't Know Why I Keep Getting Fired" Velez -Joey "Not Guilty" Ryan - Val Venis - Drake Wuertz These seem to be the main players. All of them are completely toxic accounts and not worth following. Aries is talented on the stick and in the ring, but he is working overtime to ensure he is unemployed and unemployable. Is there an end-game? Is this all leading to an Aries "Canceled" podcast where he brings in Jimmy Havoc, Joey Ryan, Teddy Hart, etc. to lament and complain about the business being too PC or some bullshit? The behavior has shown to be terrible for his personal and professional life. Seriously, what's the end-game?

I love Lashley's bolts used for his entrance. That's the only good CGI assistance entrance. Less is more. The Alex Bliss face, Asuka mask, Big E Dumbells, Riddle Birds, etc. all have to go. Keep Lashley's bolts and get rid of everything else. There are very few times the gimmick should be used and there are probably just a handful of people that should have the gimmick incorporated into their entrance. I can think of maybe five people at most outside of Lashley.

Less is more. AEW has done so well because its PPVs actually mean something and feel big. I would hate to see AEW move away from this concept. Everyone is over exposed. Less is more. Keep it simple and straight-forward. "Mania Fatigue" should never be the goal of any company. A 7 hour show? Why? 12-16 PPVs a year should not be a goal of any company outside of WWE (and WWE shouldn't be doing it, but WWE is a content farm now so that ship sailed a long time ago). Keep it simple. Over deliver, but do not over saturate. Less is more.

How the mighty have fallen.Jim Cornette worked himself into a shoot and became the Donald Trump of pro wrestling. His followers, the Cult of Cornette, can at times make Russo fans appear calm and rational. If Cornette says something, the cult is quick to say he didn't say it, and if he did, well...Cornette didn't mean it. And if its revealed Cornette did mean it, while its just verbal Death Stranding and we all just don't get it because it's too high concept for us normal folk. It doesn't get better from there, because if we do understand what Cornette means, its not a big deal! And if it is a big deal, then we are told that tons of others have done and said much worse. Despite the crazy accusations and evidence of sexism, homophobia, racism, Islamaphobia, transphobia, death threats, etc.; business is booming at Castle Cornette. This has been a long time coming. I think we should keep the dumpster fire that is Jim Cornette self contained in this thread.

I agree. The last thing I want to see is AEW morph into WWE and thus far they have been pretty good about it. However, perhaps AEW should move away from its "meet our backstage crew" sit down interviews with Cody and use that time for a video package for Party Private and some of the others. Just one or two a week. Something that is less than 2 minutes should be enough. These sit downs should not be "boyhood dream" interviews, but rather focusing on the actually kayfabe wrestling personalities. Private Party talking about parties and the VIP lifestyle, MJF being MJF (though in reality he probably doesn't need one of these), Darby Allin talking about taking risk, being a rebel, being in the scene, etc. Three months of these types of video packages and/or sit down interviews will allow AEW to have its cake and eat it to. I love Shida, but I don't want to see her in the ring doing a ten minute cringeworthy promo against the vanilla and uncharismatic Britt Baker. However, I am all in on a two minute Shida video detail who she is, what she's about, and why I should care.

Impact is creeping up on its 20th anniversary. AEW will be fine. AEW delivering (total) non-stop action is great, but there needs to be a little character work as well. Also, less is more. Not every match needs 20 kicks outs from big moves. That is the same thing that has made NXT, for the most part, unwatchable to me. Every match shouldn't be an epic or super dramatic. I am not asking for every match to end in a roll up, but its okay if a match ends on the first top rope Falcon Arrow and not the 5th top rope Falcon Arrow.

I checked out the Todd Gordon episode and it was a clean listen. I am a new subscriber to his feed and hope the show continues for some time. Its going to be interesting to see how Sean attempts to avoid hitting the same questions, etc. from his shoots. I see him trying to tactical some of the same questions from a different perspective which is awesome.

Yeah. Work sucked, but then I remembered the Powerrr/Dark wrestling block and all of a sudden the day became a little brighter.

I can't wait to watch Powerrr tonight once it drops on Youtube. I never thought the NWA would become appointment viewing for me, but here we are. Fantastic!

Ricky Starks is a start. He is smooth as butter on the mic. James Storm's promo was also good and it was refreshing to here Cabana state that he is in the NWA for cash, championships, and kicking ass.

I am glad people are finally seeing Baker for who she is. There is no way I look at the AEW roster of women and think that Baker should be on the posters or anywhere near the forefront. She has shown no charisma and this dentist stuff has already hit the "is killer spelled backwards" territory. If someone gets super excited about seeing her passable work, good on them. Me, I see a vanilla women being pushed for "reasons". Those reasons? Not quite sure.

This is all from PW Torch's Twitter: True TV simulcast of Dynamite drew 122,000, so live/same-night-DVR viewership was a smaller drop-off overall. 1.140 million in total viewers is more accurate comparison to 1.409, it appears. Downloads for Tuesday's night's premieres of NWA Powerr and AEW Dark on YouTube... As of now, about 44 hours after premiere, 272K for NWA and 562K for AEW Dark. Both impressive numbers out of the gate. The Raw 50+ rating was 1.05. AEW's was 0.03!!! But male 18-34 Raw was 0.69 compared to AEW 0.48. https://twitter.com/PWTorch

You are right. We've been down this path before. I'd love to see a chart outlining key elements to let someone know if WWE is about to book itself into a corner. Maybe a survey will work better? If you answer 'Yes' to 8 of the 12 questions, that means WWE booked itself into a corner. Complete the survey prior to a PPV. If the numbers check out, grab popcorn and enjoy the show. If the numbers do not shake out and point to an overbooked iceberg ahead, you at least know when to check out of the show and save yourself trouble.